Minka Sicklinger Artist Statement:Minka Sicklinger is a BOSS. She has a ridiculous collection of exotic furs, which she wears regularly. Dead animals are kind of her thing; mounted or wearable, not to mention an antique collection of various obsessions that her past life as a treasure hunting pirate gave her the skills to procure from her many adventures around the globe. To earn a living she alternately stabs people with needles, or creates magic with ink and paper. She adorns herself with comstock worthy amounts of silver jewelry, and wears so many rings it puts mexican border-town pimps to shame. Most of the clothing she wears is antique, and was originally made for child brides in the tribal regions of several central eurasian countries. Both the present and reality hold very little interest for her, she prefers to live in a fantasy world based fleetingly on the gilded age, in which people have manners and craft still counts for something, and things are never quite as they seem. Her spirit animals are multiple, including wolves, crows, foxes and last but not least a jackalope. Minka and her menagerie can be found most days either at East Side Ink or hunched over her drawing table in her adoptive home of NYC, unless she has gone treasure hunting...then she may be gone for a while....